


Let Me Call You Sweetheart

by SeparationBoundary



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Aftercare, Anal Sex, Bottom Erwin Smith, First time anal, Frottage, Homophobic Language, Homophobic Slurs, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Oral Sex, Prostitute!levi, Top!Levi, bottom!Erwin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-25
Updated: 2018-01-25
Packaged: 2019-03-09 04:44:14
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 11
Words: 14,200
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13473954
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SeparationBoundary/pseuds/SeparationBoundary
Summary: 1920 -Levi arrives on the shores of america the only one of his family to survive,  He has nowhere to go, no money, but Erwin sees him.Erwin is inexplicably drawn to the small man but Levi disappears into the city.Erwin finds him later by chance, selling his body for enough money to buy food.





	1. Do you believe in Fate?

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first true chapter fic so bear with me. I don't know what I'm doing s the chapters ae short (around 1000 words.) As always, if I get something wrong, PLZ let me know.
> 
> Levi is an Ashkenazi Jew. He speaks Yiddish (and a bit of French.)
> 
> WW1 1914-1918  
> Prohibition 1920-1933 
> 
> Petroleum jelly - discovered in 1859 by Robert Chesebrough (it’s the byproduct of drilling for oil) - was around as the brand name Vaseline. Cocaine was also in active use as a topical anesthetic. It also would relax you and improve your mood. Cocaine does not have to be ingested. It can be absorbed through the skin - or better, the mucosa, such as that found just inside the anus.
> 
> J.C. Leyendecker was one of the best magazine and advertising artists of the early 20th century. He was known for his renditions of sleek and elegant men.

Let Me Call you Sweetheart (1910)

I am dreaming Dear of you, day by day

Dreaming when the skies are blue, When they're gray

When the silv'ry moonlight gleams, Still I wander on in dreams

In a land of love, it seems, Just with you

 

1920 - March

The ship was from the port of Bremen, Germany, and it was ostensibly a supply ship.  Indeed, Erwin Smith was here for the sole purpose of picking up his cargo, or rather the cargo for his company.  Smith and son supplied machinery for textile mills and the German weaving machines were the best.

But it was 1920 and less than 2 years since the end of the Great War.  Europe was in shambles and anyone who could get out, tried to. This made a great opportunity for ships owners and captains (sometimes without the owner's knowledge) to make money.

This particular ship's captain, who was also the owner, was a relatively decent sort - otherwise Erwin would not be doing business with him. This captain took as many passengers as he comfortably could, slightly crowded  into an upper hold where they could at least get some fresh air.  He kept the floors strewn with fresh straw and made sure that the waste buckets were emptied frequently.  In addition he fed them fairly well - porridge or potatoes and a bit of fish or dried beef daily. Subsequently the immigrants made the trip in fairly good health. Erwin was used to seeing them. Depending on conditions and weather sometimes they were in slightly better or worse shape but Erwin hadn’t ever seen them like this.

He was staring openly now.  The survivors were mostly female and everyone was ragged, dark circles under their eyes, slow movements.  Almost every one of the passengers looked sick and weak.  Only two babes, who had drunk only their mother’s milk, were fit.

 

Unfortunately he was apparently going to have to wait until the tiny batch of dirty and bedraggled humans had been cleared.  There was a man at a hastily set up table with a ledger and a pencil.  Another man stood beside him to assist.  Erwin stood with his hands in his pockets, blonde hair ruffled by the wind. He noticed a man dressed in black a ways away watching. He turned slightly and Erwin caught a glimps of a white collar. A priest. It was an odd place for a man of the cloth to be.  Probably here to comfort the sick.

The air was damp down here on the docks and smelt of tar and mildew.  But the breeze was fresh, straight off the Atlantic, crisp and salty.

Erwin ignored the shuffling, filthy, human cargo with difficulty.  He was the son of a very rich daughter of a German canning mogul - who happened to be an only child.  Erwin’s father, in turn was a clever middle class son of a machinery supplier.  And so here he was.  A successful business backed by a fortune and he, like his mother, was an only child. He was wealthy, upper middle class, well educated, and despite all of this he felt very strongly about the poor.  The plight of these immigrants tore at his heart.

Erwin frowned.  He had had machinery shipped on this ship before - _zwei rote Rosen_ \- and knew that they carried people.  But they’d always brought 20 or 25.  Today it was exactly 12 including the two infants at the breast.

Erwin edged nearer to hear what the immigration men and the ship’s first mate - a _not_ so nice man - were talking about.

“Dysentery?  Like what the pioneers got?’

“That’s what the ship’s doc said”

“Shit”

“Exactly,” the first mate said driely.  He lowered his voice.  “We lost eleven of them,”

“Shit!”

The immigration men began writing and examining papers as if afraid that they’d catch it too.

Then Erwin saw the man with the black hair.  

He was stricken.  

It would have been laughable if it hadn’t been so overwhelming.

_God in heaven, he is beautiful._

The man was small and dark haired.  His skin was like porcelain.  His body was hard and lean.  Erwin had never seen anyone like him.

He was the last in line and when he approached the desk, a wary look in his dark blue eyes, Erwin stepped forward, not wanting to miss a syllable spoken by his voice.

He was not disappointed.  The man’s voice was low, deep, and sent a jolt right to Erwin’s cock.

“Levi Ackerman,”  the black haired man said, “Levi Ackerman,” the assistant repeated, checking his papers

Erwin committed the name to memory.

“There’s two more Ackman’s here,”

“AckERman,” Levi corrected.

“So where’s the rest?”

Levi stared at them in silence.

“The others?” the assistant said loudly as if Levi were deaf.

The first mate grunted and whispered something into the official’s ear.

“Lost his mother and uncle to the shits?”  The man shook his head and sighed, “And doesn’t speak English?”

“Just a few words,” the first mate said, “speaks Yiddish.”

Erwin stepped forward without thinking the consequences through.

“We’ll get your cargo out here soon, Mr Smith!” the fat first mate simpered, wringing his hands.

Erwin ignored him.

“Is there a problem with this gentleman’s papers?”

The three men started, looked guilty, looked puzzled, looked at each other.

“Uh, no, Mr Smith but he needs to speak at least _some_ English …”

Erwin turned to the small man. Levi looked up at him tiredly.  There was almost a foot difference in their height.  He looked like he needed sleep, food.  Erwin opened his mouth to ask the beautiful man if he could buy him dinner.

Levi abruptly spouted something in a language none of them knew.

Erwin, who spoke only english, was at a loss.  Levi repeated the phrase, clearly angry, frustrated, and anxious.

“Do you speak any other languages?”  What was a common second language?  “French?”

“Français? Oh, oui!  Je parle un peu français!  De quoi a besoin ce cochon stupide?”

Erwin cringed inwardly.  He didn’t know French either but the immigration men didn’t know that.  They were listening open-mouthed to what they perceived as two men much smarter than themselves having a discussion in a foreign language.

Erwin decide to play the cards he was dealt and turned to them with a smile.

“Ah, yes, see?  It’s fine.  Hey’s fluent in French and has family in …” the southern state eluded him for a moment, “Family in Louisiana!”

The immigration men, afraid of looking stupid, nodded sagely - as if that made any sense to them - and stamped his papers.

Levi snatched them and ran.

Erwin cried out, lifting an arm, stunned, but the small dark man was gone.  Gone into the throngs of people in the city, his papers clutched to his chest.


	2. Let me take care of you

“Let me take care of you.”

1920 - November

 

Erwin never stopped thinking of the dark haired man.  Levi wandered across his thoughts almost every day, lean and pale and sharp-eyed.

Erwin was painfully romantic and often wondered about the concept of one's True Love, about meeting the One.  He wondered almost every night if he had encountered the love of his life and had watched him rabbit away to blend into the thousands here in this city.

Erwin sighed.  The fact that the person he believed was his soul mate was another man didn’t really concern him.  Yes it was ‘repulsive and wrong and an abomination in the sight of god’ but he really didn’t give a damn.  One can’t help who one loves.  So long as your opposite is a consenting adult, what could the problem be?

But he wasn’t thinking of him right now.  He was thinking that he needed to get the hell out of this neighborhood.  

One of the legacies Erwin Smith benefited from was several Muller Canneries along the east coast of America. Cannery 3 only two blocks away was a huge low building sitting on pilings out over the water.

The neighborhood dockside was rough.  It had gone downhill in recent months; Illegal alcohol, prostitution, drugs, bare knuckled boxing, even cockfighting. The people attracted to and participating in these things made for a dangerous neighborhood and the cannery workers didn’t help. Most were from Dockside or lived there. Most gladly took their weekly paycheck and spent it on vice. 

The problem was that while the neighborhood had always been poor it had never been dangerous. The cannery had suffered some minor thefts and some vandalism. This was not unusual but it seemed to be getting worse lately. Erwin had been speaking with Keith Shadis, the chief of police, but they’d turned up nothing.  So the police had gotten exactly nowhere and Erwin was tired and had a headache and really just needed to get back to his hotel.  

His family’s house was too far out into the posh countryside to make tonight and he hadn’t brought his car so walking it was.  At least until he could find a cab. He shivered despite his sheepskin lined coat.

Erwin walked quickly up a side street, looking for a main thoroughfare where he could hail a cab.

That’s when he heard the sound.  It was rhythmic and sounded like someone in pain.  Erwin paused. He wouldn’t ordinarily linger in this squalid neighborhood, but the sound …

Erwin walked forward, slowly, trying to place the noise.  It was coming from a dark alley ahead.  Erwin crept up.

“Ah, Ah!, you bast- Unh - ard”  The distinctive sound of flesh against flesh didn't escape the big blond man.

Erwin eased his head around the corner.

There was a small person, woman? Man?  _ Fuck _ ...child? And that person had his face pressed against the rough brick wall by a huge, fat, hairy man.  The big man held both the other person’s arms in his hands and his hips pistoned forward, sinking his cock into the person.

“You like that you whore?  Taking cock up your ass for money?  Does that feel good?”  The man punctuated the last four words with violent thrusts that ground the smaller - was it a man? - person’s face against the wall.

“Ah! Ah! … Fucking …  _ finish _ you shitty bastard!”

The big man did just that, cumming, then jerking out of the small man, and shoving his flaccid cock back into his trousers.  He turned to go.

“Oi!  My fucking money!”

The man laughed and kept walking.

Erwin, who had never been in a fight in his life, was seeing through a thin veil of red.  He jogged down the alleyway, intent on the fat man’s silhouette,

absolutely blank except for hard, red, rage.

When Erwin reached the man he did the only thing that came to mind, he punched him in the side of his head with one massive fist.

He stood over the man - who had hit the pavement like a steer carcass in an abattoir - panting.  There was no noise - no nosey neighbors, no stray policeman - just the drip of water from the downspouts and the rustle of rats in the garbage. Erwin had no idea what to do next.

A quick shadow flickered between him and the man.  It was the small man. He man who was being … abused.  He rifled through the bigger man's trousers, his waistcoat, his jacket.  He kept everything he found, money, pipe, tobacco tin, jack knife and a half full pint of whisky.  He backed up, back into the dark of the middle of the alley till he was just a silhouette.

“Why did you do that?”  He asked Erwin,

That voice.  Fuck.  That voice had plagued Erwin’s dreams.

“Oh god in heaven ... I know you.” Erwin said slowly, ignoring the question.  He felt as if he was walking through a dream, a formerly bright and glorious dream that had turned into a nightmare.

“Know me?  Asshole, you don’t know me.  I remember everybody I …. ”

“No, no, I’m not a ..a  _ c-customer _ .  No, at the docks in the spring. Coming off the ship.  You didn’t speak english then.”

The small man cringed and went wide eyed, looking terribly vulnerable. He glanced around the alleyway as if looking for an escape route.

“No, you idiot.  You’re ... you're mistaken,” he turned to scuttle down the alleyway.

“I’ll pay you.”

The small man froze.  He turned his head.

“For what?  I can’t … not tonight …”  he cursed to himself at the prospect of losing a client.

“I’ll pay you for your time.  All night.”

The dark man gritted his teeth and screwed his eyes shut.  His voice, when he spoke was a gravelly whisper..  “I just said I can’t …”

Erwin walked toward him, his big hands out.

“No.  Not that.  I won’t touch you, won’t…” Erwin’s voice hitched, “I won’t hurt you.  Just come … be with me. Your name’s Levi, right?”

Levi’s eyes got rounder, whites glinting in the low light.

Erwin took a big breath, stepping right up to Levi and looking down at him.

“Levi, you’ve just been brutalised …”

Levi swallowed.

“Levi, you were raped.  That man  _ raped _ you.”

Tears prickled behind Levi’s lids and he viciously wiped his eyes with one filthy sleeve.

“I saw him.” Erwin said gently, “I saw what he did to you.  He must have hurt you.  Please.  Humor me.  Let me take care of you.”

 


	3. Blood and Whisky

 Levi hesitated at the entrance to the hotel that was so brightly lit and immaculately clean.  The doorman gave him a hard look, despite him being with Erwin.  They rode the elevator up.  Levi had never been in an elevator and thrust his arms out when it stopped to balance himself.

Erwin let them both into the suite.  Levi stared, mouth hanging open at all the opulence.  The queen sized bed, the bar, the huge windows looking down on the city.

“I need to bathe,” he said suddenly.

Erwin frowned.

“You must be hurt.  I can …”

“I can take care of myself, asshole.”

“Please,”

Levi looked up at the big blond man.  His expression was kind and sincere.

“A-are you paying me to … bathe me?’

Erwin nodded, “Of course,”

Erwin shed jacket and shoes and socks and rolled his sleeves up, striding to the bathroom.  Levi crept along behind him.

The bath was magnificent.  Gold fixtures, a shower, a huge tub set into the floor.  Erwin squatted to turn on the water, testing it for warmth.

Levi shed the rags he called clothes.

Erwin was spellbound.  Levi’s body was lean and pale and muscled. His hair on his head was silky and black, his underarm and pubic hair was the same.  The contrast with his milky skin was delicious.

Then the smaller man turned slightly.

“Hey, is there any booze?”

Erwin hadn’t heard a word.  He wouldn’t have heard an explosion at that moment.  He was staring, teeth clenched, lips pulled back into a grimace, a frown knitting his brows.

A thin trickle of blood ran down the inside of Levi’s right leg.

Erwin couldn’t think.  He couldn’t breathe.  He couldn't move.  He wanted to find the man who hurt Levi and kill him.  Strangled him with his own hands,  Beat his skull against the pavement until his brains spattered out.   _Why hadn’t he done that when he had the chance?!_

“Hey,” Levi said.  “Hello?  Booze?”

Erwin stood stiffly, dragging in rough breaths.

“What would you like?”  It was a croak.

“Surprise me,”

Erwin walked like a wind up toy to the wardrobe in the bedroom.  Since Prohibition had been enacted, Erwin, like many, had a stockpile of fine alcohol hidden away.  He poured two fingers of whiskey into a glass then shakily slopped some more in.  abruptly remembering something, he stopped by the medicine cupboard on the way back.

When he got back in the bathroom, Levi hadn’t gotten into the water.  He was stood on a step, about thigh deep, hesitating.

Erwin handed him the whiskey, trying not to look at the swirl of red in the bathwater.

Levi obviously wanted to explain himself but didn't know how.  He took  huge swig of liquor.

“God, that’s good.  The water,” He gasped, “It hurts … where …”

Erwin savagely stripped off his own clothes, tossing them mindlessly toward the sink.  When he was naked he bent to Levi, putting his big hands on the smaller man’s waist.

“Hey!  Wait, you big idiot!  I said  …”

Erwin wrapped himself around Levi.  He gently bent the smaller man over the edge of the tub.  He washed the blood off of his legs a bit savagely, making sure every speck was gone, then he very carefully touched his ass, spreading his cheeks.  The small man’s hole seemed fine except for a tear that still leaked blood.  Erwin was so relieved, he had been afraid, after witnessing the brutality Levi had endured.  Fortunately, the fat guy’s dick had been tiny.

Erwin softly and gently washed Levi’s ass, the smaller man whimpering occasionally, and downing his drink in big gulps.

Erwin reached to a small jar he’d gotten from the medicine cupboard.  It was an emollient with a pain killer that a pharmacist had made for him for a nasty burn. (*see notes*)

Very very slowly Erwin spread the gel onto levi’s ass.  He scooped up some more and pressed his finger in just a bit swiping around the inside of his anal ring.

Levi moaned then.

Erwin started.  That felt _good_?

He dipped his finger into the gel again and made circles around Levi’s hole, ending up with slipping his forefinger in.  The anesthetic must have been taking effect.

Levi had his head down on his arms, ass in the air, and groaned in pleasure.

Erwin had no idea what to do.  He’d never had sex with a man and he absolutely was not going to do anything with Levi hurt.  But his cock was hot and hard and he saw Levi’s was too.

Levi reached under himself and grabbed his own dick, stroking jerkily.

Erwin repeated the swirling motion around the smaller man’s asshole and Levi made a little pleased sound, his hand on his cock speeding up.

After a few minutes Levi gasped and seemed to come back to reality.  He turned to face Erwin.

“Lean back against the side,”

Erwin frowned, “Why?”

“So I can suck you, idiot,”

“No,”

“What?  I can’t … I don’t want to …”

“I don’t want to have sex with you,” Erwin said softly, “Well I _do_ want to have sex with you,” He blushed crimson, “But I’m not going to, considering what you’ve been through,”

Levi just stared open mouthed at him.

“And you don’t have to … do _that_ to me.” Erwin moved closer and ran his knuckles along Levi’s sharp jaw. “I don’t expect anything.  Not tonight.  Not any night.  Just let me take care of you.”

Levi had his back to the side of the tub, the water about waist deep.  Erwin was right in front of him.  Levi reached out with both hands and grasped Erwin’s powerful arms.  He pulled him forward.

“Wait, no, I just said …”  Erwin began,

Levi ignored him and pulled the big man up against himself so that their dicks pressed together just under the water.  Levi grasped both, squeezing and starting a slow stroke.

Erwin sucked in a startled breath, “Ahh, ahh!  God … no … that … that feels so … ungh … guh … good.”

Levi looked up at Erwin’s face intently as he squeezed and pulled and ran his hand over both heads.  Erwin had his lower lip caught in his teeth, his arms over Levi’s shoulders, his head thrown back.

It felt so incredible.  He’d never had a man’s hand on him but he appreciated it now.  Levi knew exactly what felt good and he was working Erwin swiftly to orgasm, coaxing his cum, chasing that release.  He hesitated at the down stroke, making the big man whine, then resumed, only to pause and run his thumb over both slits, pressing, caressing.

It didn’t take long before Erwin could feel the heat blooming in his gut and he shakily grabbed Levi’s shoulders in each hand, panting harshly.  Levi abandoned his own dick to grip only Erwins and he began a insistant rhythm with a slight twist at the end that made Erwin’s stomach muscles jump.

Suddenly it was there and Erwin’s balls tightened and he was cumming, cumming into the warm bath water.

“Ahhh!  Haa … haa … Lee - hee -VIE!”

Erwin gasped and drew in ragged breath after ragged breath, absolutely wiped out.  He had never, ever had an orgasm like that.

He finally reached out, moving his hand from Levi’s shoulder to Levi’s cock.

Levi arched up at the sensation of the big hot hand on him.  Erwin had grabbed levi’s hand where it gripped his cock, wrapping his huge hand over Levi’s hand and cock both.

He tugged, starting his own rhythm, looking down at the smaller man with undisguised lust.

Levi was suspended as if in a dream.  His hot cock was caught between himself and Erwin, and he stood, open mouthed, staring up at the big man.  The blonde man’s hand was so warm, so firm.  His stroke was so sure.

“Fu … ah … fuck!  Fuck!  D-don’t stop.”

Suddenly Erwin ran his free hand around levi’s body and grabbed his ass, squeezing, his middle finger lingering ever-so-gently between his cheeks.

That was too much.  Levi came hard, curling forward, resting his cheek on Erwin’s belly, gasping for breath.


	4. "I gotta go."

Levi woke to sunshine slanting in big windows and crisp white sheets billowing over the bed.  He scrubbed his eyes, sleep sticking his dark lashes together.  He looked around blearily and the memory of what happened in the alley flooded back to him.  He hurt like fuck.

_ Fuck!  How am I gonna make money like this?  I can’t blow everybody. _

He sat up.

Next to him, on a cloud-like pillow, was Erwin’s blonde head.  His powerful arms curved up to disappear under the pillows.  Levi could see his thick neck and part of his shoulders.

Levi searched his memory.  Had he let Erwin fuck him?  After the alley?  No.  The big man had refused.  He recalled the tub and smiled to himself.  Suddenly, wickedly, he wanted to see Erwin’s big cock again.

Levi scooted under the covers, peeling back the pristine white duvet and the 400 thread count blindingly white sheet.

Ahhh, there it was, relaxing against Erwin’s thigh, it’s base nestled in pale blonde hair.  Levi shot a glance up at Erwin’s face.  Still asleep.  Levi cuddled up close to Erwin’s hip and gently grasped his soft cock.

The moment he touched it, Erwin’s dick came alive.

Levi chuckled and gripped it tight, licking lightly across the head.

Erwin moaned in his sleep and his dick hastened toward an erection.

Levi was dipping his head down and taking Erwin’s cock into his mouth.  Erwin’s hips bucked up, shuddered, and he moaned wantonly in his sleep.

When Erwin woke he had a raging hardon, half of which was in a stranger’s hot, wet, mouth.

He was forced to forego surprise for pure, unadulterated pleasure.

He arched up, gasping, as Levi sucked, swirling his tongue under the head and …

And then Erwin came, groaning, bucking up into Levi’s clever mouth.

Erwin finally lay gasping, head thrown back on the pillows, a thin sheen of sweat on his pink skin.  

“Oh dear god that was amazing,”

Levi, smiling just a little, made as if to get out of the bed.

Erwin grabbed him, embraced him, enveloped him in big, blond man flesh.  Levi fought weakly, then he succumbed, snuggling into Erwin’s chest.

Erwin stroked Levi’s shoulder, his back, his hip.  He seemed to love the smaller man’s skin.

After a long while Levi had to speak.

“I gotta go, you know.”

Erwin stiffened.

“I gotta make money.  I can’t afford to not work.”

Erwin hugged him close.

“You’re hurt …”

Levi squirmed out of his grip and sat up, 

“Ahh, I’ll be OK”

Erwin’s mind thrust the picture of Levi, pale and small and vulnerable and a bright red thread of blood trailing down his leg.

“I’ll pay you.”  

Erwin grimaced at the offer.  Suggesting it made Erwin feel as if he was disrespecting Levi, treating him like a thing and not a human.

“Yeah, and you owe me for … well for whatever.”  Levi got up from the bed wincing slightly and went to search for his clothes.

Erwin lay propped up on one elbow, scared and desperate.  He slid out of the bed and walked, buck ass naked after Levi.

“Levi …”

Levi sighed, “Come on Erwin, fuck, I already --”

“Please!  Please, Levi.  Please don't go.  Take all the money in my trousers, just don't go.”

The smaller man stood stunned, his cheekbones a light red.  He had no idea what to do.  If he went, he'd be forced to get right back to it in order to eat.  If he stayed, Erwin might not give him anything.  He might just fuck him till he got tired of him then kick him out.

Erwin grabbed his trousers off the floor and thrust them out to Levi.  

“Take it. Take every cent.  I don't care what you do with it, just don’t go.”

Levi clutched Erwin’s trousers to his chest.

“Are you suggesting that I become your … kept man?”

“Yes, yes, whatever it takes, whatever you want to call it but please please Levi don’t leave.”

Erwin had realised from the moment he had come home with him that he might be falling for this small, tough, irascible man.

 

In the end Levi agreed to stay until he was healed.  He drifted around the hotel room all day, listening to the wireless, ordering expensive tea, taking multiple baths, helping himself to Erwin’s bootleg liquor.

For three weeks they just cohabitated, eating supper together, sharing drinks in front of the fire, sleeping in the same bed.  

Erwin wanted to have sex with him, he knew, but refused to rush him.  Furthermore Erwin doted on him - buying him nice clothes, letting him order the most expensive cigars (Levi had only done that once.  He didn’t even like cigars, he was just testing his limits.)

Levi continued to be disgruntled, taciturn, and complaining.  He insulted the tall blonde man as a matter of course.

Erwin knew he didn’t mean it and secretly thought it was adorable, thought  _ Levi _ was adorable, like a bad tempered cat.  Clearly the small man had had a hard life and suppressed his emotions to keep from getting hurt. He honestly appreciated everything Erwin did but couldn’t express himself in anything but vitriol.


	5. Theft, Battery, Fornication

Ch. 5

Theft, battery, fornication

 

One Monday Erwin stood by the door putting his scarf on.

“Where’re you going?”  Levi hung over the back of the couch.

Erwin grimaced and shrugged on his coat, 

“Back to Cannery Three.  We’ve had another break in.  I’ve got to figure out what’s going on.”

Levi often accompanied Erwin on business.  A former watchmaker by trade, he had a sharp eye and a canny mind.  Plus in an expensive suit, mohair coat, and leather gloves he looked like he’d stepped out of Erwin’s social club.

Erwin loved having him with him but he never asked Levi to the docks.  The memories were still too raw.

Today Levi sat up.

“I’ll go with,”

Erwin stared.

“Yes?  Are you sure?”

Levi shrugged.

Suddenly, his normal belligerent look vanished, replaced by an unreadable one.

“You don’t want me with you?”

Erwin was horrified,

“Of course I want you with me, Levi!  I always want you with me,” He had stepped forward and was gripping both of Levi’s arms. “It’s just … the docks …”

Levi writhed out of Erwin’s grip,

“OK, OK, you fucking giant.  Don’t slobber on me.”

He jumped off the couch and reached for his coat,

“I’ll be OK.”

 

It was crisp and cold down in the shadow of the massive cannery.  The fresh salt scent of the ocean was overborne by the smell of fish, blood, and tar.  Erwin and Levi walked, hands deep in coat pockets, collars turned up against the stinging wind, toward a small group of men.

There were four; Nile Dok, Erwin’s lawyer; Keith Shadis, chief of police; Darius Zackley, the mayor; and a doughy looking man in black with the dog collar of a priest.  There was little fear of Levi being recognised as the filthy rent boy who’d frequented these docks just weeks ago.  Levi looked  _ nothing _ like his old self.  He was fleshed out more, clean, and groomed.  His black hair was in an undercut with the top parted on one side and slicked down and back with Brylcreem.  Honestly he looked like a Leyendecker advert or magazine cover.  In a tuxedo he was devastatingly handsome.

Today he was simply a business associate.

Introductions were made, details of the suspicious activity trotted out.  Shadis spoke of the increase in crime being the work of a gang and his confidence in their finding the gang leaders; Zackly and the priest, a Father Nick, murmured their opinions about the inundation of the docks with ‘bad elements’.

“There are lowlives everywhere down here nowadays,” Zackly said.  This was probably the first time in his life he'd ever set foot by the docks.

“Poor souls given over to sin,” Father Nick bemoaned,  “theft, battery … fornication.”

The priest looked directly at Levi when he said the last word and Erwin suddenly remembered the priest down at the docks when Levi arrived. He had a moment of cold terror thinking that Father Nick might be that priest.  No, wait, that was just silly. Surely there was more than one priest in all of dockside. 

Levi ignored all of them, looking cooly out over the pilings that supported the cannery and at the seagulls swarming there, fighting over the fish guts.

 

When they were back in the relative warmth of the car Erwin spoke:

“Well, that was a waste of time!”  He cut his eyes over at Levi, “That priest, what was his name? - was odd.”

Levi yawned.

“Father Nick.  He’s the priest over at Our Lady of the Wall.”

Erwin frowned,

“You know him?”

Levi looked blandly up at the bigger man.

“Yep.  He paid good money to suck my dick a couple of times a week.”

 

Levi had been living with Erwin in his hotel room for almost three weeks.

This night, the night of the nineteenth day, Levi was determined to give Erwin what he wanted: sex.  Truth be told he wanted it too.  The last sex he’d had was - not counting his surprise blowjob for Erwin - in the tub.  He could really use a good fuck.  Giving or receiving.  He wasn’t picky.

 His tear was healed and Levi had jerked off in the bath earlier, prodding deeply into his hole, stretching himself.  It was a test to see if he really was healed and a precaution in case Erwin wanted to stick that monster schlong in him.

Levi certainly wouldn’t mind.  Erwin would never hurt him and a big cock, administered gently at first, was a glorious thing.

 

They ate their room service food and drank expensive whisky at a small table that served as their dining area.  It was decked out with a pristine white cloth, real silver and china and crystal.

Levi had thought, that first day he stayed, that he could get used to all of this, that a sugar daddy would suit him.  Now, weeks later, after living with the man, eating with him, talking to him for long hours, Levi realised that he actually  _ liked _ Erwin Smith.  He didn’t want to leave.  Not because of the luxury, but because of the man himself.

That was why, after tonight, he  **_was_ ** going to leave.  He knew that if he stayed he’d just fall harder, get in deeper.  And that meant getting hurt worse when it all fell apart.

He had carefully hoarded every cent that Erwin had ever given him and he knew Erwin had paid three months rent on his shitty dive of an apartment - one tiny room with a leaky ceiling, peeling walls, a bed, a chair and an iron pipe that he hung his few clothes on.  He’d brought home a scavenged fruit crate that he used as a bedside table.  There was a candle in it’s holder on the top and Levi's paltry selection of scavenged books.

He didn’t care about leaving the lap of luxury.  It would be a change but he’d cope.  Maybe he could live off of the cash Erwin had given him until he could find a real job.  Any job.  Anything to keep from going back to getting fucked in alleyways for a few dollars.

“They’ve opened the new art gallery on 10th,” Erwin said suddenly.  “I thought we might go … only if you’d like,” 

Levi stared at Erwin’s big sappy smile, his eyes that were lit up like Levi was the greatest thing ever.  He would miss museums and libraries and art galleries.  Most of all, he’d miss Erwin to share these things with.

Levi stared down at his plate and wondered if he should just slip out and go before bed.  Just disappear.  Better for everyone, really.

_ If we fuck it will just make everything harder, make leaving more difficult. _

“Do you feel alright?” Erwin asked, his face falling, “You’re acting strangely.  You don’t have any pain do you?”

The honest concern in the big man’s voice made Levi want to scream … or cry.  He managed a thin smile,

“I’m fine and I’d love to go to the gallery.”

“You were frowning …”

“Ah, my fucking steak is slightly overdone,”

Erwin practically lept up,

“I’ll ring down to the kitchen …”

Levi intercepted his arm as he came by.

“Slow down you big dumb bastard.  It’s fine.  Just sit down and tell me about the gallery.  What sort of art will be on display?”

Erwin was torn between outrage over the steak and wanting to please Levi.  He chose the latter.

Levi began planning in his mind how he could leave right after supper.


	6. “I’ve never had anything of my own.”

Erwin laid out his pyjamas and Levi’s as he did every night.  His arm still tingled from where Levi had touched him. The memory of Levi putting his hand on him made his face flush and his heart beat fast.

As he often did when left alone with his thoughts, Erwin began fantasizing about kissing Levi, touching him.  Having never had sex with a man, he was not certain of the nicities of the procedure, but he could let his imagination run wild.

By the time he fluffed the pillows and turned on the expensive new wireless real low, Erwin was sweating and sporting a hard on.  He cleared his throat and made his way to the door to the bathroom.  A cold shower would help.

 

Erwin caught Levi pinching the anesthetic ointment.

“Levi?”

The smaller man froze, his back to Erwin, his shoulders hunched.

Erwin stepped into the room. 

“Are you still having pain?  I could --”

“I’m leaving, Erwin.”

“What?”  it was a whisper.  “You … you’re leaving me?”

Levi shook his head hard, still not turning around.

“No.  Not  _ you _ .   _ This _ .” he gestured vaguely with one hand.

“We could stay somewhere else!  You know I have a house in the country …”

“No.” 

Levi turned slowly.

“Not  _ you _ , not this  _ place. _  I’m leaving this … this … whatever this is between us.”

“I don’t want to lose you!”

“And I don’t want to get my heart broken!“  Levi snarled suddenly, “Again!”

He hurled the ointment into his bag and began mindlessly taking anything else he thought he might need.

Erwin came up behind him and grabbed at his hands, “Please, Levi!  Please stop!  I’ll do anything … I’ll never t-t-touch you …”

Levi turned his head.  The big man was almost crying.

Levi’s heart broke anyway.

“Erwin …”

The blonde man was barely keeping it together enough to speak,

“Please.  I think I … I don’t … I’ve  _ never had anything of my own _ !”

Levi recoiled at his vehemence.

“I’ve done what everybody told me! I’ve been a good boy! I’ve depended on my family for everything.  Girls only like me for my money.  Guys only like me for my body.   _ Nobody likes just _ **_me_ ** !”

He subsided after that, staring numbly at the floor and sniffling like a little kid.

Levi wet a washcloth and reached up, taking the bigger man’s face in his hand and wiping his reddened, tear-streaked skin.

“I like _ just you _ ,” Levi said, “And that’s the problem.”

Erwin looked at him with red rimmed eyes.

“I can’t get hurt again, Erwin,” he held up a quick hand before Erwin could speak. “One day you’ll get tired of me, want a family, or just a wife.  You’ll suddenly see me as I am, just a poor immigrant, and be embarrassed at how rough around the edges I really am.  This is the best thing for both of us.  You’ll see.”

Erwin had shut his eyes and was shaking his head stubbornly.

Levi went quiet, waiting him out.

Finally Erwin spoke, his voice almost back to it’s deep normal tone.  He took a deep breath and looked sadly and adoringly down at Levi.

“No.   _ No _ .  I’ll never see.  Levi … I think … no, I know … I’m in love with you.”

 

Levi stood completely still, as if doing so would render him invisible.  If he was invisible then he wouldn’t have to react, to respond … to agree.

Levi looked through to the bedroom at the blindingly white linen, the white gauzy curtains billowing at the open window, the shafts of sunlight gilding everything in gold.  To him, this was Erwin: bright white, pristine.  He, on the other hand, was dirty, used.

He clutched his bag tightly and turned, stalking out of the bathroom.

Erwin followed him, suddenly subdued.  The smaller man had packed a duffle with all the clothes he could and some towels and soap.

 

Erwin had started crying silently.  He stood so tall and proud and still rivulets of salty tears wound down his pale cheeks.

Levi turned with his hand on the doorknob.

“This is for the best Erwin.  You’ll see.”

The big man just shook his head, staring at the floor, an overgrown kid who didn’t know how to cope with this thing.

Levi sighed.

“Look Erwin.  It’s like this; you are … pure ... and I’m just goddamn gutter trash.”

Erwin growled at that, continued staring at the floor.  Levi went on, desperately, voice rising,

“I lived on the streets, Erwin!  Covered in filth and … and  _ vermin _ !  I was a  _ fucking prostitute _ !  You watched some lowlife  _ rape _ me!”

Erwin’s lips peeled back from his teeth in a silent snarl.

Levi stepped up to him, his bag bumping the taller man’s hip and grabbed both his arms,

“I have been fucked by dozens of men and sucked more dick than I can count … “ Levi’s breath hitched, “I’ve been forced … “ he swallowed hard, “y-you … you don’t deserve d-damaged goods.”

Erwin’s big hands suddenly closed over Levi’s biceps, tight, hurting him.  He loomed over the smaller man, quickly seeming impossibly big.

The blonde actually lifted Levi off the floor slightly and shook him like a rag doll.  Levi grunted in surprise.  Erwin brought his face right up to Levi’s.

“I don’t care if you’ve fucked every man in this city or sucked a thousand dicks,” He ground out.  “I … don’t … care.  I  _ love _ you.  I want you to be mine - just mine.  I-I want to worship your perfect body, kiss your perfect lips …”

The tough facade crumbled so quickly.

“I … I just want to wake up next to y- you every morning.”

Levi dropped his bag and enveloped the tall man’s head in his arms.  The blonde wept, fell to his knees and wept, his arms tight around Levi’s hips.

 

They stayed that way for what seemed like forever, Levi stroking Erwin’s blonde hair where his head rested on the smaller man’s chest, Erwin clutching him like a man drowning, his big hands fisted in the back of Levi’s shirt.

Levi was happy and sad and bewildered.  He wondered a thousand things: did Erwin really think he was in love?  With him?  Could it be possible that they could have a life?  Be happy?

How soon would it all fall apart?

Erwin was happy and grateful and bewildered.  He wondered some of the same things as Levi, and many more.  Was it possible Levi could learn to love him?  Could they be happy together?  Would the world leave them alone long enough for that to --.

 

As if on cue, there was a sudden insistent pounding on the door, making both men jump.

Erwin scrambled to his feet and snagged a robe.  Levi just looked at the closed room door like a rabbit would look at a hunter, prowling around over the warren.

The pounding again.  Harder.

“Open up Mr Smith!”  It was a muffled bellow.

Erwin unconsciously hurried to the door; a civilized man, a polite man, a man who had nothing to hide.  Levi unconsciously slipped into the bedroom.  To hide.  Like the spoiled goods that he was.  Wouldn’t want him dirtying up Erwin’s beautiful space in front of other people.

Before Erwin could reach the door, a key clicked in the lock and the door was hauled violently open.  A clutch of dark blue wool jackets crowded into the room.

Inexplicably, absently, Erwin thought of how he needed to get his blue blazer cleaned before the hot weather set in, oh, and Levi needed to get fitted for one.

One officer, a Seargent, spoke,

“Where is he Mr Smith?”

“H-he?”  Erwin whispered.

“The little fairy. Mr Smith.  He’s duping you.  Paying attention to you so he can get your money!

“What? I don’t …”

The tall policeman frowned, “Now, now, Mr. Smith, don’t be foolish.  This con man is a …” the big man leaned in close and the other blue coats fanned out stealthily into the suite. His voice dropped to a conspiratorial whisper.

“He’s a  _ rent boy, _ sir.  He … uh, lets men … uh.  Let’s them - you know ...”  The officer gestured vaguely downward.

Erwin stared at the man in disgust.

The man misinterpreted the look, nodding sagely.

There was a sudden crash and a yelp, followed by grunts and then screaming.

The officer and Erwin both sprinted for the other room.

Levi hung, cursing and kicking, between two of the policemen who had him hauled off the floor.  Two cops were out cold, a third one - the one who had screamed - lay balled up on the floor both hands between his legs, whimpering.

“What the hell?!” the officer roared.

“Sarge, this pansy bit Donovan on his Johnson, sir.  It was horrible!”

Levi spat bloody phlegm onto the cop who had spoken.

Erwin came out of his trance and moved toward Levi,

“Levi … !”

The big Sergeant intercepted him, holding him back.  Erwin looked desperately at the man he loved who grimly shook his head.


	7. “He’s done nothing wrong!”

Erwin paced back and forth in front of the desk at the police station.  The constable behind the desk watched him warily.  When the big glass doors opened, admitting a tall lean man with a scraggly beard, both Erwin and the constable sighed in relief.

“Nile!”

“Erwin!  What is all this mess that you need your attorney in the middle of the night?!”

“Jesus, Nile, he’s done nothing wrong!”

“Wait, wait … slow down, who?”

Erwin gestered violently, “They broke into my hotel room, Nile!  They took my friend!”

Now, Nile Dok and Erwin had been friends their whole lives.  It was 1920.  People didn’t talk openly about homosexuality but Nile had suspected a thing or two.  He cleared his throte.

“Your ‘friend’ Erwin?  Levi, was it?”

Erwin wasn’t stupid.  He had formulated a story.  How _ good _ of a story was the question.  He was about to find out.

“Yes, Nile.  My friend.  I’ve known him for ages.  I ran into him several weeks ago and he’s been helping me.”

“Do what?”

Erwin tamped down the urge to scream,

“Translate some French.” he said admirably evenly.

A door behind the desk constable, topped with frosted glass, opened.

Both men turned.

“Keith?” Dok said.

“Shadis,” said Erwin flatly,

“You should be flattered Smith,” Shadis said, “You’ve managed to drag the chief of police out of the bed,”

“I don’t see why,” Erwin said,

“Oh, come off of it!” Shadis spat, “There’s a goddamn Crime wave all around your cannery?  The neighborhood going to hell with booze and hookers?  Then you suddenly bring home some gutter trash pansy whore who just  _ happens _ to work the beat where your cannery is?”

“What the hell does one have to do with the other?!  Who are you to call him trash?!”

Dok squeezed between the two men who were chest to chest by this time.  They continued to rage over his head.

“He duped you into taking him in!  I’ll bet he’s part of the gang responsible!”

“What the hell?!”

The glass topped door opened again and a smallish, bald man stepped in.  He went straight up to the combatants and - as if they weren't quarreling at all - shook Dok’s hand.  He turned to Erwin and extended a hand.  Erwin instinctively shook it.

“Dot Pixis.  I’m the judge for this district,”

Erwin looked belligerent.

“He’s done nothing wrong your honor.  They have no right to hold him.”

Pixis cocked his head.

“The little Ackerman fellow?”

Erwin nodded.

PIxis touched one hand’s fingertips to the other’s contemplatively.

“Mr Smith.  Prostitution is illegal,”

“He’s not a prostitute!”

“We have it on good authority that he is.  Are you denying that you’ve been living with this man for weeks?  Your suite is a single; there’s only one bed.” It’s easy to assume you’ve been fornicating with this man.  Are you denying it?”

Erwin drew himself up,

“Yes.  Yes, I am denying it.”

Pixis smoothed his mustache.

“Then I suppose we will discuss this in court,”

 

After everyone left Erwin paced and raged for awhile.  He tried in vain to get them to let him see Levi.  He paced and raged some more.

Erwin was, of course, telling the truth.  Levi was no longer a prostitute.  If he stayed with Erwin he would never have to have sex for money again.

They also had done nothing egregious between them.  Technically, they hadn't fucked.

Eventually he grew exhausted and, realizing the futility of staying, wandered back to his hotel.

 

Shadis and Dok stood in front of the tiny cell.  Pixis leaned against the bars.  He and Levi regarded each other warily.

“Are you a homosexual, Mr Ackerman?”

“I’m a human being,”

“Erwin Smith is a good man.  He supports this community.  And this is my community.  I live here, was born here.  So I'm taking a special interest.”

Levi held his gaze and made no reply.

Pixis sighed,

“Look, Mr Ackerman; I don’t give a rat’s hairy ass if you and Smith are fucking.  It’s none of my business.  But you were here on the docks for a while and we have a witness - Father Nick - of your, uh, impropriety.  He’s the one who informed us of your leaving with Smith.”

Shadis leaned forward and stabbed a finger at Levi, 

“Prostitution is illegal and homosexuality should be,” he snarled, “and I’m gonna incarcerate your nasty, disgusting --”

Dok laid a firm hand on Shadis’s shoulder.

“Crime is rife in Dockside. Fathers and husbands are spending their paychecks on whores and hooch. Children are going hungry. We’ve got to figure out who's running this gang,”  Pixis  said,

Shadis was at the bars again, “And  _ you,  _ you little Jew bastard, refuse to tell us!  You’re  probably being paid off!  How could Smith be so stupid?”

“Shadis, for god’s sake …”

Dok dragged him backwards a few feet.

“Let’s assume you know nothing about the criminal activity,” pixis said, “You were on those streets night and day; you might have seen something, maybe?”  He suggested,

Levi shook his head wearily, “The only thing I’ve fucking seen is fucking Father NIck himself, going into the Bell and Goat.  Every Sunday evening.  That was our appointment; Sundays.  Afterwards he’d disappear in ther for an hour”

Shadis waved his hand like he was swatting bugs. “That’s of no use.  He’s a hard worker.  He’s probably offering confession or something.”

Dok rolled his eyes.

“What if,” Pixis mused looking at Levi, “You know something you don’t know you know?”

 

It was the early hours of the morning when the three men reconveined, tired and frustrated, to Shadis’s office.

Dok lifted the percolator and shook it, 

“Why would the local catholic priest spend an hour a week in a dry bar?  Is he really preaching or giving absolution or whatever?”  He frowned,  “There’s no coffee.”

Pixis shrugged, “Why would the local catholic priest want to put a prostitute’s johnson in his mouth?”

Shadis’s face screwed up in revulsion.

“That’s a damn lie that that little bastard made up!”

Pixis and Dok exchanged a glance.

Pixis twisted his empty coffe cup in his hands, “Well he’s not churching in the Bell and Goat, I found out.  He’s the landlord.”

“What the hell?  The church owns the Bell and Goat?”

“Not the church, the man.  Father Nick owns that whole corner.  The Bell and Goat and two houses that he lets out to boarders.”

“Well, shit,” Shadis said

Dok was frowning, “My question is; why would Nick turn Ackerman in if he was ...ah … enjoying his services?”  he asked.

“He wanted Ackerman off the streets?” 

“But why?  He was off the streets with Erwin,” Dok said. 

“Well, we have him now.  We can’t let this opportunity get away,” Shadis said. “We can’t get any of the other prostitutes to talk; they’re afraid.  If Ackerman isn’t lying about being involved then he has got to have seen something,”

“I think he could be persuaded to talk … for some considerations,” Dok said carefully,  “I think Erwin genuinely cares for him.  Maybe he can help.”

Shadis made a disgusted noise.

“I dont give a damn about prosecuting Ackerman for prostitution,” Pixis said, eyeballing the police chief to keep him quiet, “but we have to find out who’s running this. ”  He lifted the percolator, “Why’s there no goddamn coffee?”

 

Pixis pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed.  He was sat outside Levi’s cell again.  He’d been there awhile asking Levi about everything he could think of, trying to get some insight.  He’d sent a message to Erwin, hoping the big man could coax his lover into revealing something.  Although.\, honestly, Pixis felt like Levi was telling everything he knew.

An officer came in with coffee.  Pixis stood and handed Levi his through the bars.  He sat back down and crossed his legs, blowing on his coffee.

“If I may ask, how did you start?  I mean with the … ” Pixis gestured vaguely.

“Fucking guys for money?” Levi asked driely.

Pixis nodded.

Levi ducked his head and began fidgeting with the edge of the thin blanket on his cot, pulling at imaginary loose threads.

“I was solicited,” 

He shrugged.

“Some guy asked for a hand job and I ate for the first time in days,”

Pixis frowned.

“I’m sorry.  That must have been … well I can’t imagine.”

“It’s amazing what you’ll do when you’re almost delirious from hunger,” Levi said quietly.

Pixis nodded.

“Theres a lot of hookers in that area - because of the sailors.  I’m surprised they’re not organised.”

“They are, kinda,” Levi said, “There were a few of us ‘independants’ but most of the people - most of the women, I know, - were managed by someone.”  Levi took a delicate sip of his coffee, “They used that boarding house behind the Bell and Goat,”

The right honorable Dot Pixis’s coffee cup hit the floor with a crash. 

 

Pixis and Levi came to a consensus.  They had to find out who was handling the prostitutes and they both knew the easiest way to do that. 

Now to tell Erwin.  

Ten minutes later they were both on their way to Erwin’s hotel. Dok was to meet them there. 

To say that Erwin was stunned at the proposal would be an understatement.  He came out of his chair like a bull out of a gate.

“You want him to  _ go back out there _ ?  NO!  Absolutely not!”

Dok held up both hands, 

“Calm down Erwin, it would be only for a short time!”

“No!”

“Erwin we have to be sure …”

“NO!”

Levi took a sip of coffee,

“Shouldn't this be my decision?”  He asked mildly,

Erwin spun around to face him,

“Levi!”

“I’ll be fine, Erwin.  I lived on those streets for months before I could even afford my shitty room.  I’ll be OK.”

Erwin’s face was brick red.

“Look, Erwin,” Levi said gently, “pixis has garenteed to not arrest any of the women.”

“And we will drop all charges against Levi,” Pixis said.

In the end Erwin had no choice. It was the only plan that had a chance to work. He grudgingly conceded.


	8. Devil

 

They did their nightly routine in silence.  When Erwin went to turn off all of the lights, Levi pointedly failed to change into his pyjamas.  When Erwin returned to the bedroom Levi was stood in the semi darkness completely naked.

Erwin sucked in a startled breath.

Levi’s pale skin almost glowed in the darkness and his lean frame, filled out a bit more since they’d met, was even more beautiful.  Erwin crawled onto the bed blindly, his head turned, staring at levi.

“I … uh … Levi?”

The smaller man’s head turned.  He had bathed, so his hair was still damp and he slowly, absently, ran his hand down his torso and across his taut belly, fingers brushing over the trail of midnight black hair there.

Erwin was rapidly getting hard.

“Erwin.  I don’t think I can sleep …” Levi said lazily and stretched, a blatantly sinful gesture that dragged a quiet moan from the blonde man on the bed. “I think we should do something else.”

“Suh … else?”

Levi very slowly crawled up onto the bed and toward Erwin.

“Why don't you lose those clothes?” Levi suggested.

Erwin practically tore his robe and pyjamas off.

“Lie back down,” Levi murmured.

When the man did, Levi crawled over his body like a cat.  When he reached Erwin’s head he paused, looking down into the man’s face.  The low light cast Levi’s face in shadow and Erwin shivered suddenly underneath him.

“Are we gonna do this?”  Levi asked, low.

“Yes, please.”  Erwin whispered.

Levi ducked his dark head, lips brushing Erwin’s throat.

“I can’t guarantee I can control myself,” he said darkly, nipping at the soft skin.

Erwin whined with need, back arching, his hard cock lying heavy against his belly.

“There’s no going back from this,” Levi said, “this isn’t a professional service.  I’m doing this because I  _ want _ to,”

For a moment Erwin looked as if he was tearing up.

“Do it, Levi.  Do whatever you want.”

Levi lowered himself onto the larger man, naked skin against naked skin.  His mouth found Erwin’s neck again and he sucked and bit while the other writhed breathlessly under him.

He was fully hard, his cock rubbing against Erwin’s just like that first day they met.  That day Levi had been a bedraggled stray, skinny and ragged, a recipient of Erwin’s generosity.

Today he was an apex predator, well fed and smoothly muscled, and about to pay Erwin back for his kindness.

Levi began a downward trek, littering the other man’s rosy skin with love bites and lovers marks.  He fell on one nipple, sucking insistently and Erwin almost came off the bed.

“Ah, god! Levi!”

He pinched the other nipple and the big man moaned.

Downward.

Erwins cock was rock hard and dripping precum, twitching against his belly when Levi grasped it.

Erwin abruptly sat up and Levi reared back.

“D-dont!  I’ll …” he blushed, “i’ll finish if you … put your mouth …”

Levi leaned in and kissed him.

They hadn’t kissed since that first day and now they made out like two teenagers, upright on their knees on the bed, cocks mashed between them.

They broke apart.

Erwin was flushed; face, shoulders, and down his chest and panting like he’d run a race.

“Levi,” he gasped, “can I touch you?”

“Of course,” The younger man murmured and he fell back onto the bed never taking his gaze off of the blonde man.

Erwin went slow.  He caressed Levi’s face, kissed him, dragged his palms downward to his chest. Shyly leaned in and kissed a nipple.

“Suck on it,” Levi said, eyes hooded.

Erwin compiled and was rewarded by Levi’s hips coming off the bed and a truly wanton moan escaping his lips.  Erwin grew bolder, sucking the second nipple into his mouth.

“Ah!  Erwin!”

His big hands wandered down - almost able to span Levi’s waist - to his narrow hips, hipbones jutting.  Erwin’s hands curved around to levi’s buttocks and he pulled the small man toward him.  Levi opened his legs and they were pelvis to pelvis, their balls touching.

Erwin paused and a small frown marred his features.

“This doesn’t feel right,”

Levi just watched him.

“It … it feels like … like  _ you _ should be in charge.”

He scooted back and Levi lowered his legs.  He propped himself up on his elbows.

“Is it because you don’t know what to do, or …?”

Erwin combed his fingers through his thick blond hair, 

“No.  It’s just like … like I feel like I’m acting.  I want you to … to do everything … to me,”

Levi’s eyebrows arched,

“You realise that if you let me take the dominant role I  _ will _ fuck you, right?  That’s  _ my _ dick in  _ your _ ass.”

Erwin nodded, suddenly eager.

“I’ve already warned you that I’m not sure I can control myself.”

“I don’t care.  Don’t control yourself.”

Erwin sat down on the bed.

Levi grasped his own cock and stroked it a few times.  Slowly.  Erwin couldn’t tear his gaze away.  He licked his lips.

“Lie back then …”

Erwin collapsed backwards.  Levi paused to enjoy the truly lovely sight.  Erwin was not only big, he was well muscled, and with his intimidating cock and pale coloration he looked like a god.

Levi swarmed over the big man again and Erwin squirmed in anticipation.

Levi sucked and bit, kissed and caressed.

“You’re like an angel,” He whispered,

Erwin looked up at him with his wide blue eyes and Levi bucked his hips up, rubbing their cocks together.

“Is this angel ready to be fucked by a devil?”

Erwin’s pink lips fell open and Levi took the opportunity to push his tongue into the other man’s mouth.

 

Erwin was quickly adapting to his role, becoming less awkward.  He submitted entirely to Levi, letting himself be directed, allowing his limbs to be positioned, baring his body to Levi for anything.

Only when he was so hard that he felt like he’d explode did he whimper for more.  He said those magical words:

“Levi … Levi, please fuck me!”

The ease with which the smaller man - a foot shorter and 50lbs lighter - flipped the bigger man was startling.

Erwin was now on his belly.  Levi’s insistent fingers sunk into the flesh of his hips,

“Up,” Levi growled, “Not too high.  Fuck, what do we have that’s slippery?”

Erwin pawed at the night stand and Levi leaned to snag the bottle he was reaching for.  He inspected the label in the low light.

“Olive oil?  Nice.”

The emollient was dripped onto Levi’s dick and over Erwin’s puckered hole.  The smaller man reached around with his left hand and grasped Erwin’s dick. The big man gasped and thrust into his hand.

“I’m gonna put a finger in.”

Erwin nodded relishing Levi’s practiced hand on his oil slick cock.  He gasped when the finger went in and whined when Levi pressed it in to the knuckle.

“It … it feels weird … ah!:

Levi had begun thrusting the finger slowly in and out. 

“Ah … ahh! … Levi!”

Levi had nudged another finger alongside the first. 

“It … it …!”

He had pressed in to the knuckles. 

“Imagine my cock in here instead,” Levi purred, “stretching you while I fuck you hard.”

“Oh god, Levi!  Oh god!”

Levi gave no warning for the third finger, just went slowly and smoothly.

Erwin made a desperate, high pitched noise and Levi laid over his back thrusting the fingers in slowly. 

“I’m gonna wear your ass out, mister Smith,”. He murmured ,” you’re going to beg me to cum in you,”

“Right now, Levi!  I want you in me right now!”

The smaller man obliged, pulling his fingers out, gripping Erwin’s hip with an oily hand. With the other he guided his cock, nudging at Erwin’s entrance.  The blonde moaned and rocked backwards trying to impale himself. 

“What a slut you are, Smith!” Levi said and eased forward smoothly sliding an inch or two of cock into the older man.  Erwin gasped then sobbed and Levi stayed perfectly still to let him adjust. 

“Hnnng, yes … “  Erwin breathed after a moment, moving a little, rocking his pelvis to slide farther onto Levi’s cock. 

Levi took that as a sign to proceed. 

He massaged Erwin’s hips, rubbing circles into the small of his back with his thumbs.  The blonde man relaxed visibly. 

Levi eased smoothly forward, speaking at the same time,

“Feel good, Smith?  Feel me inside you, filling you up?”

Erwin nodded eagerly

Levi had a good four or five inches in by now thrusting shallowly trying to hold it together. 

“Christ you are tight!”

“Lee-hee-vie!  It feels so good!  So good! Please go faster!”

Levi did just the opposite. He slowed down, introducing the last few inches in increments until he had worked the whole thing in. 

Erwin was trembling with need   

“Please Levi … please Levi …”

The smaller man was slowly succumbing to his own lust and abruptly withdrawing a few inches he thrust back in, hard, his hips slapping against Erwin’s buttocks. 

“Ah!  Levi!”

The small dark man uttered one word:

“OK?”

Erwin nodded fiercely and Levi began a slow rhythm.

The blonde man never went quiet but kept up a continuous series of noises as Levi’s thrusts got more and more urgent. 

“Ah god Levi, god in heaven!”

“What a good angel you’re being Erwin. So beautiful with my cock up your ass. “

Erwin groaned and bit the bedsheets to keep from crying out as Levi quickened his stroke. He was pounding into the man now and Erwin gripped his own dick almost desperately. 

“Ah Ah Ah!” Levi warned. “Not yet. You don’t get to … hnng … cum yet, my angel. “

“Please Levi please!  I’m so hard …”!

Levi was pistoning into the blonde man now. So close himself. Barely containing himself.

“What did I say?  That you’d beg me to cum in you?” Levi gasped, “so beg angel. Beg this devil to defile you.”

“Oh please Levi please!  Please cum in me!”

At that Levi grasped Erwin’s hot hard cock. The big man shuddered and a few strokes later came, Levi spilling his release deep inside him almost simultaneously. 

 

Erwin lay face down on the bed. He had his face in a pillow and was gasping for breath. He stayed still so long Levi was worried. He rubbed the blonde between his shoulder blades and the bigger man hummed. 

“You OK?”

Erwin’s head nodded, face still in the pillow.  

“Well then come out of there. I need to pull out and it’s gonna sting.” 

Erwin finally surfaced. He seemed very unsure. Levi felt the cold weight of fear. Had he not enjoyed it?  Had he hurt him too much?  It usually at least stretched a lot the first time and Levi had a big ass cock for such a little man.   He put a knee down on either side of Erwin’s legs and sat up. 

“Here goes,” 

He gently and slowly pulled out and Erwin grimaced. 

“Sorry. Say, listen Erwin I …”

“Can we do that every day?”

Levi’s eyebrows shot up,

“What?”

Erwin rolled onto his back. “Every day. Can we … make love every day?”

“You blonde idiot!  You’re gonna be too sore to walk tomorrow!”

Erwin tucked his hands behind his head and smiled smugly,

“I don’t care.  I want to do that every day. Twice on sundays.”

Levi gaped at him. Erwin laughed. He held his arms open,

“Come here, my devil,”


	9. The Bell and Goat

 

Erwins good mood dissipated by morning. He was pacing anxiously and frowning prodigiously.

Levi was dressing,

“Clever of Shadis to get clothes off of a prisoner who’d been living on the streets.”  He shook out the shirt.  It was too big for him, with frayed sleeves and a ragged hem.  “Wish he’d fucking washed ‘em.”

“Levi, please reconsider …”

“No. This will solve the problem. Stop the thefts and vandalism. “

“I don’t give a damn about that. I’m worried about  _ you _ .  You …”

“Erwin, where do you think the good Father is getting his whores?”

Erwin recoiled a bit at Levi’s tone

“I … I … “

“They’re immigrants.  Fresh off the boat and unable to find a job.”

The smaller man began jerking the shirt on,

“Those women who survived the trip here with me.  Where are they now, Erwin?”

Levi angrily wiped his eyes with his sleeve.

“Let me do this.  I  _ want  _ to do this.”  he whispered, sniffling, “You dumb asshole.  I’ll be OK.”

Erwin dragged him into a crushing hug.

 

Being back out on the streets by the docks was horrifying.  

Levi thought he’d be fine, thought he’d be able to step right in and pretend.  But it was overwhelming.  It was like the first day he arrived, all those months ago.  It was freezing cold and for authenticity he only had a cloth coat.  It stank; chamber pots were in frequent use by the poor.  Most tipped them into the gutter.  Worst of all, his ‘area’, his part of the neighborhood where he had plied his trade was now taken by someone else.

Levi had to pose as a rent boy  _ and _ witness again another desperate soul who had no recourse but prostitution.  Levi encountered him immediately - you had to walk your beat constantly to keep away interlopers and pick up as many Johns as possible.

Today Levi was the interloper.

The man was young - just a boy - tall, lanky, mass of curly blonde hair.  He and Levi stopped about ten feet apart, eyeing each other.  Levi paused to light a cigarette (a vice he would never have been able to afford three weeks ago.)  He offered the boy one knowing that he couldn’t afford them either.

“You workin’?”  He exhaled smoke as he spoke.

The boy knew by Levi’s clothes that he wasn’t a john.  He had to be a rival.

“Yeah, and this is my patch,”

Brave kid.

He knew that he wouldn’t stand a chance against Levi.  The small man was as muscular as a dock worker.  He could just kick the boys ass and leave him.  Or Levi could walk his beat and steal all his Johns.  He was intimidatingly handsome.

But Levi had a plan.

“I’m gonna work your patch today,” he said firmly.  “Just for today.  You can stay; I won’t steal your work.  I’m after one guy in particular.”

The boy digested all of it, his cigarette burning down between his fingers.

“What’d he do to you?”

“Nothing.  It’s what he’s doing to other people,”

“You gonna kill him?  They’ll think I did it!”

“Relax, I’m not gonna kill him,”

The boy finally took a drag of his cigarette, burning it down until he had to pinch it between thumb and forefinger.

“Do I got a choice?”

“No.”

The boy shrugged and turning, walked toward a small group of men at the corner.  After a few steps he turned around, walking backwards,

“Those people?  They’re lucky to have you.”

Levi almost smiled.

 

Levi settled into a slouching walk, getting back into the rhythm.  He headed toward the docks.  He passed two potential johns and silently thanked the powers that be that he wasn’t forced to solicit them.

As he walked he thought of the blond boy with the freckles.  He would ask Erwin to give him some money.  Try to break the cycle that forced the boy to work the streets.  Levi could even let him stay in his old flat.  There was a bit over two months rent already paid.  He’d never be going back there again, anyway.

Levi had reached the docks.

Houses and businesses loomed over the single street that lay between them and the pilings of the piers.  Built at different times there was either a narrow space - just big enough to let a small adult through if they went sideways - between them or a thin alley or no space at all, the buildings leaning tiredly on each other. On the near corner of the block a door was open and light spilled out onto the brick roadway.  The Bell and Goat. 

The inside of the pub was dark and the ceiling low and sagging. On the whole it gave the impression of a cave. One that stank of smoke and sweat and greasy food and god only knew what else. 

There were booths around the walls and a few tables, some big, some small, in the middle. 

Levi had taken precisely one step into the establishment when a red headed fellow with a mat of ginger hair on each forearm and none on his head leant over the bar. 

“We don’t serve you dirty fuckers in here!”

Levi held up a wad of bills. The entire pub went quiet. 

For a long moment The entire place looked from Levi to Ginger and back. Suddenly the red haired man grunted and turned away.  The power of cold hard cash. Levi sank into a chair. 

A barmaid wandered over. 

“Whuh canna getcha?”

“Cider and some stew”. Levi shifted nervously and kept darting glances around. 

 

The stew was fish (of course) and looked revolting. Chunks of fish and potatoes swam in a greasy looking soup. Despite this it was actually very good. There was a time not long ago that Levi would have done anything for a bowl of it. In contrast the cider tasted like someone had let a single apple rot in two quarts of water. 

Levi tried to look around without seeming to look around. He saw former customers, familiar faces from the neighborhood, and …

Levi suddenly realized with a start that there were no women save the bar maid in the place. As he thought about it he realized he’d never seen any female enter the pub.  

Where were they?  If they were in the boarding house why didn’t one see johns going in and out?  Men came in and out of the pub all the time but Levi saw not a single hooker. 

What the hell?

 

Levi looked around searching for information. Definitely no females other than his server. There was a Doorway to the kitchen. Two windows opaque with dirt smoke and grease. A huge fireplace. Steep steps to the apartment upstairs (ginger lived there). The walls were all adorned with hunting trophies and various weapons. Nothing outstanding. Nothing suspicious. Nothing helpful. 

Well, fuck

Levi worked on the stew, sipping the hot liquid slowly and primly wiping his mouth with an old handkerchief

About half of the female hookers fucked their johns in the street. The rest used the boarding house. 

Why hadn’t he ever seen johns?

He eyeballed the steps to upstairs. Was Ginger letting the whores use his apartment?

Levi discarded that idea. The roof was pitched. The apartment had to be tiny. Half the hookers couldn’t service all their johns one at a time!

Fuck

He studied the opening to the kitchen. He’d been in there before (several times. On ‘business’) and it was just a hole dominated by a huge coal stove and kegs of cider.  There was a hatch to the cellar (which was small and dark and wet) and the back door. 

Levi chased the last bit of fish with his spoon. He was frustrated that he may have done all this for nothing. He knew Shadis was tailing him in case things got rough. He hated looking inept in front of that asshole. He sat trying to decide what to do and glaring at his ‘cider’. What he really needed was a beer. Prohibition could get fucked. 

He stared moodily at the floor, trying to think. 

The floor in the pub was filthy; tracked -in mud, fallen food, and a thin covering of straw that was supposed to be swept up every night.  Levi’s gaze was drawn to a relatively clean spot in the general filth. It was in front of the few feet of wall under the steps to the room  above. Levi found himself idly studying the shape on the floor in front of the wall. It was fan shaped, like a book that had been opened. 

Or a door. 

Levi blinked.  He looked stupidly at the clean space on the worn boards. 

That wall wasn’t a wall. It was a door. 

 

Now, Levi was a watchmaker. He’d been apprenticed at age nine. He was intimately aware of how things fit into other things. 

And there was no way that was an outside door. There was maybe a foot between the two buildings. It had to lead between the pub and the boarding house next door. 

He’d found out how the Johns moved. 

He had to find Shadis. 


	10. First Mate

Levi left the pub at a trot and made a right after the boarding house, into a narrow crooked alley.  It was dark as pitch and a weak streetlamp illuminated the street at the far end.  He walked quickly but warily.  There were a lot of places to hide back here.

The priest stepped out of the shadow of a brick arch like a dark ghost.

“Levi …”

Levi froze.

“They told me that Smith was done with you.”

Levi turned.  He resisted the urge to fly at the man, to pummel his face to a bloody mess.

Father Nick stepped up to him and cocked his head.  He ran a thumb over Levi’s lower lip and the smaller man had to suppress a shudder of revulsion.

“I missed you.  I missed that pretty cock of yours.”

Levi swallowed.  He was not at all sure that he could get it up if the man wanted to blow him.  That would be a problem.

The older man suddenly grabbed his jaw and kissed him - he tasted like cheap home brewed whisky, harsh and burning - and Levi had to struggle not to let the disgust show on his face.

“Did you fuck him?” Father Nick asked, a bit breathlessly,  “Did you fuck Smith?  Or did he fuck you?  Is his cock as big as he is?”

“His cock’s as big as my fucking arm,” Levi said, lighting a cigarette to keep the man from kissing him again, “And we fucked every day.”  Levi took a slow drag, “He likes it rough, likes to hear you cry and beg,”

The priest shivered at that and palmed the front of his trousers.  He liked that fantasy.  A lot.  And Levi knew it. 

“We should start back up, you and I,”  The priest swiped his hand along Levi’s sharp jaw, down his neck, across his chest, “Get you some money since you’ve not been working.  I know a man, one of the ship’s first mates who would appreciate your tight ass.  I’m meeting him tonight.”

Levi threw away his butt and let his hand linger on the older man’s fleshy jaw.

“I like the way that sounds.  You probably have been being a very bad boy,”

Father Nick’s holy sceptre twitched visibly under his black robe and he nodded eagerly.

“Father?”

Nick nodded over Levi’s head. 

“Who’s this?”

Levi turned. The speaker was a big rough looking man with dark hair and a massive dark beard.  Levi recognized him as the first mate of the zwei rote Rosen. 

“It’s ok. He’s just here for one last service,” Father Nick said. 

It took Levi a split second to process what the priest had said and, before he could react, the burly sailor had grabbed him from behind.  Levi fought like a polecat, Getting in a few good kicks before the stout man grabbed his wrist and pulled it up almost to his shoulder blades. 

“Ahhhhhhgh!  Ok! Ok!”

Where was Shadis?!

The priest patted Levi’s cheek. 

“You always were a scrapper,”

“What are you … aagh! … going to do?” Levi asked grimacing in pain. 

The good father looked contemplative.  

“Well, I’m going to suck you, Milo here’s going to fuck you, and then … you get to retire. Permanently.” Levi looked in disbelief at the first mate. He cheerfully held up a pistol. 

“What the fuck, Nick?!” Levi yelled. “Haven’t I always treated you right?”

The priest looked downright sorrowful. 

“You have. But, see, you’re a clever one Levi. Educated, sharp eyed. You notice things. And I can’t have you noticing things,”

The big man clapped a hand over Levi’s mouth. 

“Enough talk, Nick. Do your shit.”

The priest dropped to his knees in front of Levi (who was sweating thinking of his flaccid dick,)

“Christ, Father,” the first mate said, ”Why do you suck him?  Why don’t you _ fuck _ him?  I bet he’s tight as a boy!”

Father Nick seemed startled and replied solemnly,

“Sodomy is a sin, my son.” and reached for Levi’s trouser buttons.

Hidden across the street was Shadis and with him, Erwin. Erwin made as if to storm across the cobbles and the other had to hold him back. 

“Let me go!  That man is trying to … to …”

Shadis shrugged,

“So?  That pansy has had his dick sucked too many times to count,”. He took a drag of his cigarette, “what’s one more blo—“

Erwin punched the police chief squarely in the face. 

The shorter man staggered back, blood dripping from between the fingers of the hand that he held over his face. 

“Fug Erwind!” 

“We’ve known each other a long time Shadis, “ Erwin ground out, “But I’m not gonna let you talk about him like that!”

Shadis went brick red. 

“Why do you gare so budg?!

“Because I love him, you fool!  Emphasis on ‘love’!  Accept it!  And you’ve put him in danger because you and your idiot officers can’t —“

 

At that moment the light from the street lamp at the end of the alley seemed to flicker.  Both parties looked.  It was a person who had stepped to the mouth of the narrow alley.  It was his long shadow that fell over Levi, Nick, and the first mate. 

Levi recognised that silhouette - it was the prostitute, the boy with the curly hair.  

Levi saw a dark movement to his left - he was blinded temporarily by looking at the light - and the first mate drew the pistol.

“NO!” Levi lept at him, clawing for his arm just as the gun went off deafeningly in the narrow space.

Father Nick and the first mate ran.  They scuttled down the dark alley toward the safety of the pub and were rapidly intercepted by Shadis and Erwin.  Levi could hear them cursing and explaining.

Levi looked up.  The silhouette was gone, replaced by what looked like a pile of rags.  

For a while Levi just stood, head down, then he walked slowly toward the bright mouth of the alley.

 

The blonde boy lay in a spreading pool of blood, his mouth moving weakly, his heart pumping the life out of him.

Levi crouched to speak to him, offer a soothing word.  By the time he did the heart had stopped.

Levi stared sadly at the filmed over blue eyes.  The stench of the blood was overwhelming him.  He could almost taste it on his tongue.

Taste it on his tongue … like cheap home made whisky. 

“Levi …?”

It was Erwin, standing hesitantly at the edge of the light, wringing his hands. 

Levi stood, turned, and stepped into the bigger mans arms, burying his face against Erwin’s chest. 


	11. Being Bad

Levi shed his clothes at the police station - he couldn’t stand to be in the rags another minute.  He was shrugging on a borrowed uniform shirt and half-listening to an excited Shadis.

"We thought we could let the Father off lightly with a 'well-he-didn't-know' but turns out he not only ran the house personally, he supplied the whores.  The booze came from a still in the basement of the boarding house.  Vented all the way up on the roof if you can believe it.  Yards of piping; It's a wonder it didn't blow the whole place sky high."

Levi chuckled politely and pulled on the too-big uniform trousers.  He just wanted to get out of there, get back to the hotel, with Erwin.

 

This time when Erwin and Levi came together it was wilder, sloppier, almost desperate.  They kissed, all tongue and teeth and grabbing hands, struggling to divest each other of their clothes.

"God I was so worried," Erwin gasped, "I love you so much,"

"Shut up and get naked, Smith," Levi growled,

The larger man shivered and complied, pulling off his shirt and undershirt.

Levi frowned up at him.

"Bed."

 

The going was easier this time.  Erwin knew what to expect and was fully relaxed.  It wasn't long till Levi was up to a punishing rhythm.

The blonde still cried out each time the smaller man bottomed out, fisting the sheets, gasping for breath.

"You feel so good, my angel," Levi purred, rubbing the small of the other man's back. "So tight.  Filled up with my cock."

Levi suddenly had a wicked idea.  He slowed, then stopped thrusting entirely.

Erwin whined, arching his back down, thrusting his ass up.

"You haven't been being bad, have you?" Levi murmured.

Erwin's eyes sprang open and his already swollen cock throbbed.  He clutched the sheets; so, so turned on.

"Because if you ever are, your devil will have to punish you ..."

And Levi slapped one pink asscheek, hard.

Erwin yelped and jumped, tears beading on his lashes.

"I w-would never be bad, Levi!  Never!"

A small hand came sharply down on Erwin's other asscheek, and, grabbing the big man's hips firmly, Levi resumed his stroke, pistoning into the blonde.

"Le-vi!  Hah!  Oh dear god!  I ... I'm close!"

The brisk rhythm never changed.

"Oh, god, oh Levi ... I might ..."

Levi paused, an utterly wicked smile playing around his mouth,

"What my angel?"

"I might be bad ..."  It was a whisper.  "You might have to p-punish me."

"Punish my golden angel?  Who takes cock so well?"

Erwin was tipping over the edge, that furnace in his gut pushing him toward orgasm.

Levi was pounding into him now, his own release right there.  He leant over the bigger man's back rutting into him like an animal, reaching around to grasp Erwin's rock hard erection.

"And if you  _ are _ bad I  _ will _ punish you, my angel, but that's for later - uhn! - right now you take my cock, take every inch ..."

"Yes, Oh Levi!  god, Yes!

Levi didn't get in three good pulls on Erwin's dick before the blonde came in his hand.  He followed quickly, grunting and shuddering over the man's back.

 

Erwin fell asleep almost immediately, a tiny smile on his face.  Levi - a bit obsessive - had to clean up.  He climbed back into the bed and leaned over the sleeping blonde.

"And I love you so much, too," Levi whispered, pushing a few golden strands of hair out of Erwin's face.

The small man snuggled down into the covers and Erwin grunted and rolled over, capturing him with one strong arm.  Levi snuggled further in like a small, dark animal.

And Erwin smiled.

 

Epilogue

The next evening the two men sat drinking wine, Levi propped up between Erwin’s legs as he sat in his chair.  Levi was watching the fire and Erwin was opening his letters, occasionally letting something fall to Levi to read.

This way they went through personal letters (Erwin insisted - his friends must accept Levi and the more he knew about them the better,) solicitations, and business.

Erwin was just finishing up when the concierge tapped on the door and offered Erwin a fancy sealed note. (If he thought that one man sitting between another man’s knees was odd, he never showed it.)

Levi leant his head back, regarding Erwin upside down.

“Ahh!” the tall man said, laughing, clearly pleased.

“What?” upside down Levi asked.  He perhaps had had just a teensy bit too much wine.

“Well,” and Erwin leaned down to kiss Levi, “I may have accidentally sent a courier to my father …”

Erwin felt Levi tense.

“Informing him that I’ve taken on a business partner,”

Levi’s eyes widened.

“Yep.  You started out as a boarder,” Erwin said, folding the letter, “in one of my block of flats.  We met, you showed an outstanding flair for business …”

Levi snorted.

“And now are invaluable to me - my right hand man - and when I return to my country house, you will accompany me.”

“But why did you laugh?” Levi asked,

Erwin waved the paper, a huge grin on his face,

“Father was lamenting that I should have found myself a clever Jew to help with the business.”

Levi sipped his wine, “Damn, your dad’s gonna  _ love _ me.”


End file.
